The invention relates in general to cases and covers for protection of electrical devices, and in particular the invention is concerned with a protective soft foam case particularly adapted for a hand held computer having a screen which could be subject to damage from impact loading.
A number of items of portable equipment such as still cameras, video cameras, computers, small televisions and electronic games have had fitted protective cases for the covering and cushioning of particularly vulnerable elements. These generally have been of relatively dense material, such as a hard case typically available for 35 mm cameras.
In a class of computers known as hand held computers, there is usually included a small screen which can be vulnerable to damage from impact loads or strong forces pressed against the screen. Such hand held computers are typically used by route sales and delivery people, inventory personnel and others with travelling data gathering functions.
Unlike the screen on a conventional portable or laptop computer wherein the screen is pivoted out from a casing for use and protected when the casing is closed, hand held computers have screens which are essentially unprotected in the absence of any cover or case.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/365,147 entitled "Hand Held Computer", filed concurrently with this application, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed a different type of hand held computer, of very thin profile, light weight, easily portable dimensions and with a large screen having dimensions each more than half the length of the corresponding side of the housing or face of the computer. The area of the screen may be about half or more the area of the front of the computer. No keyboard is included on this hand held, notebook style computer, but the computer has a write screen function for inputting information to the screen and into the computer using a stylus or pen, and a keyboard can be called up onto a portion of the screen if needed.
For this type of hand held computer, the need for protection of the large screen is particularly acute. Merely covering the screen with a rigid but thin foam case would not protect the screen, which may be a liquid crystal display, from impact loads to which the computer is often subjected during travel and in field use.
The conventional, smaller-screen hand held computers referenced above also need reliable protection against screen damage, as do small portable televisions and other portable devices with vulnerable external elements.